


Mania- Superhero AU

by Sciencelings



Series: Superhero AU Fall Out Boy Album fics [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, BAMF Pidge | Katie Holt, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Light Angst, Marvel References, Not Beta Read, Not Shippy, Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Polyamorous Voltron Paladins, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Slow Burn, Songfic, everyone is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-07 01:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14069823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sciencelings/pseuds/Sciencelings
Summary: Heroes can be born or made and so can villans.Shiro was made as an experiment,Everyone else was born with their powers.And powers aren't as glamorous as one might hope.





	1. Shiro- Champion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so I would love any and all feedback. I originally posted the whole album fic on the Voltron Amino including some of my own art if you guys get impatient on here. I go by the same username on there if you guys are interested.

there's a fog from the past that's giving me such a headache  
I'm a champion of the people who don't believe in champions  
I've got nothing but dreams inside  
I'm just young enough to still believe  
But young enough not to know what to believe in  
If I can live through this, I can do anything.

Shiro believed in heroes and he thought that he wanted to become one. Until he actually did. He didn’t think that he signed up for babysitting some super children. At some points he thought that he was the only sane one, but the author is getting ahead of themself. Shiro wasn’t just an exasperated dad.   
It all started when he was kidnaped alongside Matthew Holt. Unlike his friend, Shiro wasn’t born with any powers. This was technically the cause of their kidnapping. Although he would never blame his friend for what experiments were done on them because of the fact that matt was born with powers. Although he wasn’t born with powers, there were still people interested in seeing if they could give him powers. He was super-human in his own ways; he was naturally very strong and a natural fighter. He was put in an illegal fighting ring as a test from the people who were changing him. Time after time, he managed to survive each trip to the pit. Not without plenty of scars however. He knew that the illegal experimenters were overjoyed when he lost his arm. This gave them the opportunity to fuse a prosthetic arm to his freshly severed stump.   
After almost a year in captivity with rare interactions with Matt, he had gained superhuman strength, speed, agility, and lethal skill with the weapon disguised as his arm. He managed to break out of the illegal experimentation and fighting ring without his only friend. But all of the damage had already been done. He had too many scars on his body to count, and likely even more scars to his mental and emotional state. He was alone on the streets for weeks before he was finally found by a group of teenager that at the time, he didn’t know were born with powers. He only thought that he recognized one of them, but the teenage boy insisted that they had never met. Shiro had sustained too much brain damage to ask many questions to the teenager that looked suspiciously like Matthew Holt. The teenagers helped him to a safe place where he was able to heal his memory at least somewhat.   
“Was there anyone else with you?” The mini version of Matthew Holt asked Shiro once they were assured that they were all safe.  
“I-I don’t know… I’m sorry, were you looking for someone?” he replied to the miniature matt. Which was definitely true, he had no idea about what had happened to his friend. Mini matt sighed but didn’t look surprised.   
“So then who are you?” the bigger polynesian boy asked before being dramatically shushed by the tall latino teen.   
“Hunk! That’s Takashi Shirogane! He’s like my hero man!” the tall kid said in a slightly hushed but still incredibly loud tone which made Shiro laugh a little.  
“Well sorry, I didn’t know-” the big guy whose name was apparently actually Hunk defended himself with hands over his head.   
“Guys, Shiro is probably overwhelmed. Just judging by his bewildered expression. I don’t think you’re helping by fangirling over him Lance.” small Matt scolded the tall kid bearing the name of Lance. Shiro had no idea how this kid knew his nickname but decided to ignore it for now. He couldn’t remember if matt had a younger brother, but memories were starting to come back.   
“Hey! Who put you in charge!” Lance looked offended which made Shiro immediately recognize the drama kid in the group. Small Matt rolled his eyes before responding.  
“I’m the leader by default. You never take anything seriously and Hunk is indecisive. No offence Hunk.”  
“No offence taken.” Hunk shrugged. Upon further inspection, Hunk looked and sounded slightly older than the other two teens. He was pudgy sure but he still looked like he would bench press a mountain but would apologize after doing so. He had soft features and dark smooth skin but the muscles that made you assume that he wasn’t as soft and cuddly as he seemed. The tall kid, Lance, was almost the opposite of Hunk build wise. He was lanky and his back was straight as if he wanted to flaunt being taller than everyone else. He did seem to enjoy propping his elbow on the other teenagers shoulders and leaning on them, especially small Matt who didn’t seem to enjoy it. Lance also had striking blue eyes and faint freckles that contrasted well with his tanned skin. Small Matt was almost a carbon copy of Matthew Holt which sent a pang of sadness through Shiro's heart and up to his throat. Mini Matt did have slightly darker hair and looked a touch less dorky than real matt. Otherwise, hairstyle, eye color, freckled skin, and obvious intelligence was identical to Shiro's lost friend. Small Matt even had the large round glasses that was signature to real Matt. Still Shiro couldn’t recall if his best friend even had a younger brother. He remembered matt talking a lot about a younger sister but never a brother. This raised a few questions that he was okay with not being answered yet. But Shiro still wanted to at least know his name; maybe it would jog his memory.   
“So we have Hunk and Lance, I don’t believe i know your name.” he turned to small Matt.  
“I’m Pidge Gunderson. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said it quickly and monotone as if were rehearsed and said way too many times. But the last name revealed that he wasn’t a Holt… but then who was he? Why did he look so much like Matt?  
“Obviously you all seem to know me… thank you for saving me out there.”   
“It was mostly me-” lance said quietly but not quiet enough. Small matt- Pidge groaned loudly.  
“Lance I swear to god-” Shiro noticed that Pidge looked a little bit detached from the group like most of them had just recently met.   
“Anyway, uh, you’re welcome.” Hunk interrupted. He looked like he was used to Pidge being annoyed at Lance and that this was a regular occurance. This made Shiro smile although nowadays he was willing to smile at anything. It had honestly been a while.   
“Whatever, hey Lance? Did you tell Keith what happened?” Pidge looked over at Lance who sighed. Shiro immediately recognized the name and only slightly raised an eyebrow.   
“Why would we tell him? It’s not like he’s ever going to listen to us.” Lance rolled his eyes.  
“He’s still deserves to know. Your rivalry shouldn’t change what information we provide each other.” Pidge replied while Hunk offered Shiro something to eat. And not like an old granola bar, it was literally a warm piece of shepards pie. And it smelled better than anything shiro had been exposed to in the past year at least. Immediately his mood was boosted and he thanked Hunk while Pidge and Lance talked about this Keith. This gave Shiro time to eat and look at the environment. They seemed to be in a crusty shack that wasn’t in the best condition. Cool. For some reason it seemed familiar, like he had been here in a dream. He found himself zoning out as the teenagers talked. It felt like only a few seconds but it had definitely been longer than that as another teenager threw open the door. This time he immediately recognized the shorter mulleted teenager that added to the weird group. Keith Kogane.   
“Shiro? You guys didn’t say that you found Shiro!” the dark haired newcomer looked accusingly at Lance.   
“Maybe if you weren’t so secret about it I would’ve known that you knew him!” Lance retaliated. This was when Keith decided to ignore Lance and rush at Shiro. Shiro had to put down his plate at the speed of sound to hug him. Well half hug, he was still kind of afraid of his armed arm. Heh get it? Well he thought it was funny. Keith, who, if Shiro remembered correctly, usually wasn’t one to offer hugs. But that didn’t seem to matter. And shiro was glad that it didn’t matter. He needed a hug.   
“Where the fuck were you!” Keith hissed into Shiro's ear, effectively ruining the moment.   
“Language…” he chuckled before continuing. “I don’t know how to explain it… I was kidnapped and experimented on and all that.” he said with a tone of voice way too calmly. Out of the corner of his eye, Shiro noticed Pidge seem to pale.   
“Well I'm glad that you’re back.” Keith quickly replied.  
“So am I… have we been hugging for too long?”  
“Yeah.” Keith backed away awkwardly.   
“Yeah it was starting to look gay.” Lance interjected.  
“Shut up Lance.” A chorus of voices, which consisted of Pidge and Keith mainly, groaned.


	2. Keith- Expensive Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally something is happening.

I was gonna say something that would solve all of our problems   
but then I got drunk and forgot what I was talking about  
Don't you know that there's nothing more cruel than being loved by everybody  
there's nothing more cruel than being loved by everybody but you  
than be loved by everybody but you

If I could get my shit together  
I'm gonna run away and never see any of you again 

I hope the roof flies off and I get blown into space, I always make such expensive mistakes   
I know it's just a number but you're the eighth wonder  
I'll stop wearing black when they make a darker color

 

Keith had anger issues. That in combination with a rough childhood wasn’t good for him as he had powers that were highly connected to his emotions. And what power qualified the most in that category? Yup, Keith was a Pyromaniac. He controls or attempts to control fire. After years of practice and many many accidents, he could go about his day without catching on fire. After a while, things had started to look up for him. He had made a collage friend that let him stay in his apartment, he could go to school and he became one of the best in his class. Then things went downhill quickly. His one friend went missing, he had an emotional breakdown at school that caused his teacher to go blind in one eye and he was expelled. This was when he started to actually focus on his powers instead of hiding them. He finally started to accept who he was. Which was dangerous and emotionally unstable. 

He found a group of people his age going through the same things, he could tell when people were hiding things. Some people were better at hiding their abilities than others. He identified with his friend Pidge the most but trusted Hunk the most. Pidge had lost everything and had about as many emotional breakdowns as he did and was easy to read as well as being extremely powerful. Hunk was their empath. He could feel feelings and calm both of them down with only a few words and comforting touches. That was his power. He could take away determination, energy, purpose, just by talking to people. He was incredibly useful and you wouldn’t expect it of him. He was a huge muscular dude, he looked like if Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson had become a pacifist and loved to cook and hug people. Keith was usually alone though. Now that he had friends, he didn’t want to ruin his image. 

They had gotten Shiro back, great. But now they had bigger problems. Unfortunately people born with these types of mutations, usually ended up doing more harm than good. Although Keith wouldn’t call his group heroes. They were more like vigilantes that occasionally stopped violent crimes. They only killed when they needed to. Their only rule was that if Hunk couldn’t convince their enemy, then they could attack. Sometimes peoples wills were too strong to bend. Hunk couldn’t change everything. He could manipulate doubt and reasoning but not permanent belief. 

It was their first mission with Shiro back and Keith was worried that Shiro's opinion of him would change. Shiro didn’t see Keith master his powers or get out of control. And he was reasonably afraid. They had piled into Lances hand-me-down minivan that his mother had let them all use. They weren’t the richest of superheroes. Pidge sat in the driver's seat, as tech was her thing. She could control electricity and anything that used it. Pidge drove them quickly to their destination. Usually not all of them would go unless it was serious. But they had been planning this one for months. Infiltrating the Daibazaal corporation. A shady corporation that covers up murders and takes thousands of dollars from people who can’t afford it. Unfortunately they didn’t know that this was just the tip of the iceberg.   
“Does everyone know the plan?” Pidge broke the silence as they drove in the darkness.  
“Yeah yeah yeah… we know but have you guys even thought about superhero names yet?” Lance waved her off from the back seat. Although he owned the car, he was the best for look out behind them. He had the best eyes and ranged combat talents.   
“Well i’ve thought about them… You’re the Speedy Kid, Shiro is off-brand Winter Soldier, Keith is the HotHead, Hunk is CareBear, and I guess that makes me Sparky.” Pidge said quickly. She obviously had been thinking about names but all of the good ones were taken. Stupid copyright.   
“Actually I was thinking I could be like Riptide or Tsunami or something.”   
“You don’t have power over water though…”  
“I like the ocean and the color blue so fight me Pidgey.”   
“You would lose.”   
“I’m too fast for you.”  
“I wouldn’t be proud of that. And lightning is pretty fast Lancey-Lance.” she chuckled.  
“What if we were named after gods…’  
“And what would you be? Is there a god of speed?” Keith interjected.   
“I have more skills than just speed HotHead.”   
“Like what?” Keith rolled his eyes.   
“Like shooting and being bisexual as hell. I could totally be Apollo! And you’re always angry and trying to kill people so you could be Ares or Mars.”   
“And what would that make me? Zeus?” Pidge sighed. “I’m just saying they don’t fit us very well. Unless you wanna change ancient cultures. Anyway we can’t talk about this now. We’re here.” She stopped the car in the back of a large menacing building before getting out.   
“If someone can get me close enough, I can wipe out the cameras.” Pidge stretched a bit before a flash of blue and brown scooped her up and before anyone knew better, Pidge in Lances arms were hanging off of a window and Pidge only slightly looked like she was going to barf. Even from down where Keith was, he could definitely tell. Pidge put her hand near the camera and all of the cameras made a mechanical pop.  
Oh, and an alarm went off in the building. That's why he and Shiro were there. They were the fighters. Well everyone could fight but there was always something they could do better. A blur streaked back down the building and although Pidge was used to Lance speeding her around, she still looked a little digestively disturbed.   
“Alright I can get us in so let's go…” She stood still for a moment and quickly looked better. Not many people were used to going rapidly from zero to four hundred miles an hour, but she was. Lance loved to take her for surprise rides. It was probably going the speed of light and going straight up in the air that she wasn’t obviously used to.  
Lance had gently set Pidge down and they all made their way to the back entrance of the building. Shiro broke the lock on the door and ripped it open with ease. Keith almost wanted to call Shiro a show off wasn’t the time. They were a little busy.   
As expected, there were guards that came running at them with guns. They were shot at but lance blurred in an out of existence and kept any bullets from hitting anybody. But he looked overwhelmed pretty quickly. Shiro and Keith went into action, attacking the guards and leaving them knocked out on the ground.  
A new dark figure appeared in the hallway that took them all by surprise. The figure had long white hair and almost glowing eyes. And before he could register anything, Keith’s vision went black and he collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So characters introduced so far and their powers-  
> Shiro- basically a super-soldier with a magic hand and heightened natural abilities  
> Keith- Pyromaniac and blade boy  
> Lance- Speedster   
> Pidge- electric and electronic manipulation, basically she can summon lightning as well as being able to manipulate most forms of technology  
> Hunk- Empath; he can feel emotions of others and make them feel emotions as well as thought manipulation  
>  Got it?


	3. Church- Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Lance to save everyone yay.

if you were church, I'd get on my knees  
confess my love, I'd know where to be  
my sanctuary, you're holy to me  
if you were church, I'd get on my knees  
I'd get on my knees 

take the pain, make it billboard big and swallow it for me   
oh, the things that you do for the ones you love,  
you are doomed but just enough 

I love the world just not the way it makes me feel   
got a few more fake friends and it's hard to know what's real   
and if death's my last appointment, then we're all just sitting in the waiting room   
I'm just a human trying to avoid my certain doom

 

Lance didn't remember what had happened. One second he was catching bullets and the next, everything had gone dark and there was pounding pain in his head. He slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was tightly tied to a chair. Unfortunately he couldn't move. The dark room around him was mostly empty. Everything felt fuzzy, like his soul was put in a drier with a ripped teddy bear with its stuffing stuck all over him. 

Panic started to settle in quickly. He had gotten captured, and probably his friends did too. Unless Hunk had talked his way out or Shiro and Keith had fought their way out or Pidge did something smart to get them out. But Lance doubted it. He didn't even know what had happened to him, how could any of them prepare for a threat with no clue what the threat even was? 

“Uh hello? Is anyone out there? Can you untie me from this chair? I need to pee…” He called into the halls that he couldn't quite see. However the information he shared was false for he was too scared to need to urinate. 

There was no answer to his call but he hoped that someone realized that he was awake. He took a few breaths to calm himself down before trying to think his way out. He wasn't a genius like Pidge but he could surprise even her with his quick thinking. He could barely move in his bindings and he ached so he had obviously been in them for a while. He looked around. Obviously they had given him nothing to work with. If he was Shiro he could use his prosthetic lightsaber arm to free himself, if he were Keith he could melt the metal around his joints, if he were hunk, he could talk to anyone nearby and persuade them to let him out, if he were Pidge he could probably just take control of all of the tech in the building and let them all out with ease. But he was just Lance. The speedster. He could just run fast and shoot guns pretty well. 

He sighed before considering his options. If he could move his body enough to vibrate at high speeds, he could probably heat up the metal enough to get out with the magic of friction. But it probably wouldn't work and he was probably too weak to do it anyway. Everyone knows that being a speedster eats through calories better than anything else. He had to eat a lot to stay in a healthy weight range and he was still pretty skinny. Maybe he could find a way to break the chair… but honestly he wasn't black widow and he didn't have an ass of iron so it probably wasn't a good idea. If he used all of his strength in a fraction of a fraction of a second, the speed could increase his force enough to break his bonds. It wasn't a bad option honestly. He decided to give it a try. 

As quickly as he could manage, he used as much of his strength as he could to focus on freeing his arm. He could feel the hardwood break and he almost laughed when it worked and his right arm was freed. He did the same to his left and ripped his body out of his constraints and panted when everything went back to normal speed. It had taken a heck of a lot of energy but he freed himself. At least from the chair. Now all he had to do was get out of his cell. If he could build up enough momentum he could probably break the door like he broke the chair. Although solid wood is different than steel but he tried not to think about it. He sped around the small room to build up momentum then he smashed into the steel door. Miraculously the steel door crumpled under his strength and he had to catch his breath to think about what he just managed. He let out an enthusiastic whoop and swore when he realized that he was definitely being watched. He sped along every cell and searched for his friends. 

He found Hunk who had been gagged and tied to a wall, he found Keith tied up in the most fire proofed room he had ever seen, and he found Shiro with his arm heavily damaged. But he couldn’t seem to find Pidge. Everyone seemed okay, No one was hurt more severely than a few bruises. Understandably, everyone was a little freaked out. Especially Hunk. He had immediately hugged Lance once he was freed. Lance appreciated the hug as he had needed one for a few days. 

They all looked for Pidge, and instead found someone who looked suspiciously like her. He was badly beaten and tightly tied back. Lance heard Shiro choke back a sob as he muttered a name that Lance didn’t recognize. 

“Lance… Get him out…” Shiro ordered with a desperate look in his eyes. Lance broke open the door and Shiro rushed in to the broken figure. “Matt matt- oh my god what did they do to you…” Shiro’s voice was in a raspy whisper and lance swore that in the dark lighting he could see a tear in the man’s eye. Matt didn’t move and Shiro picked him up quickly. “We have to go… now.” he looked expectantly at Lance  
“What about Pidge?” he hesitated.  
“If we can’t find her in the cells we won't be able to find her for a while. It's best if we get out of here.” Lance nodded before he sped around the area in a fraction of a second and came back to the group. 

“I have no idea where we are in the building. But I can get us out of the cells. If we can get you to a window we can make a quick escape.” he said. Unbeknownst to them, the cameras were disabled and all of the members of the galra were busy elsewhere with what they deemed to be a bigger threat. 

Lance led them to the cells exit and they were greeted by a familiar figure. One with long white hair and violet eyes. Apparently the galra hadn’t forgotten about them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think! I would love constructive criticism and comments. I'm having a lot of fun writing so I hope I'm not the only one enjoying myself.


	4. Pidge- Young and Manace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight rewind to when everyone passed out and a little explanation on it. Also a badass Pidge moment or two.

We've gone way to fast for way too long  
and we were never supposed to make it half this far  
I woke up in my shoes again but somewhere you exist saying

Oops I did it again, I forgot what I was losing my mind about   
I only wrote this down to make you press rewind  
and send a message: I was young and a menace

 

Somehow Pidge didn't know that there would be any other supers in the building. Nothing was in the records. This was supposed to be a simple stealth mission where she would take down another messed up corporation. But this was something different entirely. This was so much worse than just stealing money. 

Her friends all collapsed around her and she could practically hear her own heartbeat. This tall, long haired man in front of her was killing her friends. She could feel the stillness of their hearts. Part of her power was an extra sense. She could basically feel movement and energy. And there was nothing coming from her friends. Not a heartbeat, not a shallow breath, not a twitch. She turned to the unknown man with a scowl.   
“What are you doing to them!” She felt herself charge with electricity. Usually her power wasn't a purely combat oriented skill but at the moment she felt like she was about to be struck by lightning.   
“Well that's interesting… I've never seen anyone able to resist my… talent. You'll be fun to experiment on.” The man smirked and Pidge saw his sharpened canines.   
“Let my friends go or you'll wish that I was only able to resist your shit.” She growled and an arc of lightning involuntarily wove around her fist and connected at her knuckles.   
“I wouldn't do anything harsh. Any moment your friends will be unrevivable to even me. Choose your next words wisely…”   
“Lightning isn't known to be gentle.”   
“I doubt you'll be able to conjure up more than a static shock. You're so… small.” The man chuckled. Pidge sighed.   
“I don't have time for this…” she slammed her fists together like she was aggressively giving herself a fist bump and a ball of electricity exploded throughout the room. Effectively reviving her friends and stunning her foe. 

Relief flooded through her body once she could feel her teams heartbeats again. None of them were dead… thank god. She grinned and looked at her fallen foe who was picking himself up. “I hope you weren't relying on my weakness. I assure you that I'm stronger than I look.”   
“Noted… unfortunately I won't be able to let you in. At least not the hard way.”   
As quickly as she could register, Shiros unconscious body lifted off of the ground. His metal arm moved its fingers independently as if testing the fit of a glove. The hand started to glow and Pidges eyes widened. Keith's knife floated out of its holster and launched itself at her. She may have power over lightning but she wasn't fast enough to dodge in time. The knife grazed her skull and she immediately felt burning pain and hot blood pour down her face. This was when Shiro's arm came at her and she had a crazy idea. She caught the arm before it hit her and closed her eyes. With the crushing of metal and the zapping of overloaded electricity, Shiro's only weapon broke and his body collapsed. This was when she was hit in the head with something metal. 

Pidge woke up upside-down with blood dripping down her face. Everything hurt… she was tied up and far away from anything that could help her. The room was full of materials that couldn't carry electricity or cause her do do much damage. In a second she felt a heartbeat. The room was dark and she couldn't see very much. She only felt a heartbeat and steady breathing coming from behind her.   
“I know that you're there… show yourself.” She said in as strong of voice as she could but judging by the pool of her blood on the ground, she was likely dying. 

“I'm not going to hurt you. I never get roommates. But they will hurt me if they find me trying to help you.” A soft female voice with a proper British accent spoke from behind her. The voice didn't seem menacing. Pidge didn't know whether to be relieved or even more afraid of what was behind her. She was used to being deceived. 

“Well I think I'm dying so I would appreciate not being drained of my blood from being held upside down.” She said far too casually. In a moment the rope holding her up released her and before she could process what had happened, she was caught by a pair of strong arms. Pidge looked up at her cellmate and was glad that she was too tired to have a gay reaction. The woman was tall with dark skin and bright intelligent blue eyes as well as long white hair that was curly unlike the guy who had tried to kill her. The woman also had odd lightly glowing pink marks on her cheeks that Pidge kinda wanted to touch. She immediately put her hand to the knife injury from who knows how long ago. She could feel the crusty old blood around it and the burning pain that coursed through it so she didn't think that it had been very long since her capture. Less than a day at least.   
“Uh. Thanks.” She said to the stunningly beautiful woman who had kept her from bleeding to death.   
“Don't thank me yet. You must be special if you're in here and not just the normal cells.” The woman gently put Pidge down before ripping a strip of fabric from her own dark prison garb to bandage Pidges wound.   
“That's… probably where my friends are. I have to help them…” Pidge ground her teeth together as the wound was being touched and forced to have a rough patch of fabric pressed against it. Pidge had usually avoided getting hurt. She did have a scar on her collarbone and one on her arm from technological accidents but she had never been slashed with a thrown knife. That was an experience she could go without.   
“They probably won't be hurt down there but you have your own problems to worry about. You need to heal a bit. You weren't lying when you said you might be dying. You lost way too much blood.” The woman said in a voice that reminded Pidge of a parent. An order but not for a specific purpose but more of for the worry and care of the person receiving the order. But Pidge felt like she couldn't just do nothing. She closed her eyes and put her hand to the wall. There was a camera in the room next to theirs. She used the camera and looked around the whole place. They were still in the Daibazaal building thank god. She knew a way out. She looked around for the cells and saw one faces inside of Lances where he was struggling with being chained to a chair. She froze all of the cameras and put them on a quick believable loop before opening her eyes and gasping. She suddenly felt weak and everything hurt. She was back in the woman's arms in an instant and she didn't have much of a choice but to feel safe. She didn't feel like the woman's intentions were hostile. And she in enough pain not to care. She leaned against the woman as everything went back into a comfortable black.


	5. Hunk- Sunshine Riptide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hunk is a badass as usual, the team finds pidge. No one is dead yet. yay.

I don't even have my own attention   
you say 'please don't ever change'   
but you don't like me the way I am   
the sign says don't tap the glass  
but I read it in reverse, ssalg eht pat t'nod syas ngis eht 

The world tried to burn all of the mercy out of me   
but you know I wouldn't let it   
it tried to teach me the hard way   
I can't forget it   
driving down the coast again   
the pills are kicking in   
she said I'll love you till I don't 

'cause I'm stuck in the sunshine riptide   
dancing all alone in the morning light   
the sunshine riptide  
you came in like a wave when I was feeling alright   
The sunshine

Hunk was not afraid to admit that he was terrified. Last time he had met this glowy-eyed fucker, the guy almost killed them without moving a muscle. In Hunks mind this was cause for concern. Especially since they were all much weaker than before. Shiro, their main fighter, had a broken prosthetic and was using his one working arm to carry a man that looked suspiciously like Pidge but with longer hair and a scar on his cheek. Lance looked weakened from breaking them out and Keith was bruised and didn't look all there. That left hunk as the only one in prime condition. But his power wasn't physical. He could make people feel what he wanted them too. He could get them out without having to hurt anyone. At the moment that seemed pretty good.

“You don't want to do this.” Hunk said calmly to the long haired, glowing eyed man. The others looked at him desperately like they were willing his plan to work. 

“You don't know what I want empath.” The man said sourly. Hunk couldn't tell if he was looking at him or elsewhere. The glowing yellow in his eyes blocked any movement that Hunk could identify. 

“I know exactly what you want. You don't want anyone to control you, you don't want to be their prisoner like us.” Hunk improvised. It didn't make sense that there was a super in this hellhole that wanted to be there. Besides, something about his eyes seemed unnatural. Hunk didn't have much experience with mind control but he felt like that was the case here. There was always a sign that someone was being controlled. And a surprising amount of those signs had to do with the victims eyes. 

“I have no idea what you're talking about…” The man sneered but hesitated in attacking them. That was progress at least. Hunk heard a groan and realized that tall Pidge was stirring. 

“Leave him. Now!” Hunk ordered with more power than people who knew him thought he could use. At this point it was definitely a guess but Hunk really hoped that he was right. The man seemed unsteady on his feet for a moment and blinked a few times. But the glow was still there and he spoke with a different, darker voice. 

“I've been using him for years. You really think an amateur empath can change that?” The man growled and showed off his slightly sharpened canines. Hunk kept his calm demeanor even though on the inside he was freaking the fuck out.

“I can make you do anything I want. Now get out of him.” The man blinked a few times more and Hunk started to notice a slight cold breeze in the room. He shivered. 

“You're going to have to try harder than that.” The man grumbled. 

“You can do it Hunk. I know you can.” Lance whispered encouragingly to hunk. No pressure or anything, he just had to keep them from getting killed by this brainwashed asshole. He rushed and grabbed the mans face. He closed his eyes and before the man could react, he broadcasted a message to the mans controller. ‘LEAVE HIM’ the man immediately collapsed and the glow in his eyes faded. Now he just had deep purple eyes that looked terribly confused. 

“What… where am I?” The man muttered.   
Hunk helped him up.   
“I'm Hunk, and we're helping you out of here.” The man looked around at the group and his eyes rested on Tall-Pidge who looked the most beat up.  
“I'm Lotor… and you have no idea how long I've been under that witches spell… I cannot thank you enough for helping me.”

“Hunk is just nice that way. Anyway we have to get out of here… unless anyone actually cares about saving Pidge.” Lance frowned at Lotor. He was probably jealous because Lotor was more pretty than he was. But he could also be worried about their friend who wasn't in the cells. Hunk was afraid that Pidge was being tortured or something and he really really tried not to look like he was going to cry. It would take a lot of therapy cooking to make him feel better. 

“Who is Pidge?” Lotor raised an eyebrow. There was a chance he could help them find her. At that moment the rumbling of thunder shook the building. Tall-Pidges eyes snapped open and he held onto Shiro for dear life. This was when the cool breeze in the hallway became freezing and stronger. Hunk immediately knew that it was coming from Tall-Pidge. Shiro muttered words of comfort that Hunk couldn't make out to the newly conscious man. Tall-Pidge muttered something about it being her but Hunk was fairly sure that this guy was delirious. Everyone looked fairly concerned. At the moment though they were still in enemy territory and Hunk was surprised that guards weren't dispatched during the prison break. His gaze turned to a camera pointing right at them that was sparking from one of its cords and Hunk immediately knew that Pidge had helped with their escape even if she wasn't with them. 

“She's part of our team. Well she must have been close enough to help us but not get herself out… not much can hold her back. I wonder what happened…” Lotor looked like he was trying to remember something and his face fell in disappointment. 

“I think I know where they'll be keeping her… they keep the ones that they can't control in a different area…” he looked grim. “And I'm not sure if you guys have the strength fight what's in there.” 

“I'm not leaving without her. If you guys feel the need to run away, just be my guest. But I need to do something.” Lance sighed. Hunk hadn't realized how worried Lance had been about their missing teammate. Although he was scared, Hunk agreed. He hated the idea of where Pidge might be. Probably alone in the best case. 

“Neither am I… I don't think we'll be able to get back in without her if we just save our own skins.” There was another close rumble of thunder followed by some hysterical muttering from tall-Pidge. He was starting to agree, the storm couldn't be a coincidence. Shiro sighed as he held tall Pidge close to him. 

“So you know where she is?” Lotor nodded. 

“We have a place for those who can't be controlled like the rest of us can. The security is hell though. But I'm sure I can get us through.” The man looked determined. Even after being brainwashed he looked majestically powerful and Hunk could sense his gratitude. Apparently it didn't feel great to be under the control of someone with malicious intent for who knows how long. 

“Then what are we waiting for! Lead the way Legolas!” Lance exclaimed with an eye roll. Lotor led them out of the area and snuck them up to a different level of the building. He knocked out any guard that they came across and eventually they came to an area with a single cell. Inside the clear dark cell was a white lioness with blue and pink eyes that seemed to be guarding the corner of the room where Hunk could barely make out a small limp figure with blood going down her face. Now that he thought about it, there was blood on the ground and on the lions paws as well… he watched as the lioness paced around the cell and narrowed her eyes at Lotor. Everyone's eyes were wide with fear except for Lotor. Something tore at Hunks heart when he saw Pidge both motionless and covered in blood as well as being so close to the beast. Tall-Pidge had made a noise like he was being strangled when he saw Pidge. 

“Allura, We’re here to break you two out. All of my actions beyond this point were not mine i promise.” Lotor said far too calmly as he approached the beast. The lioness shifted into a tall dark skinned woman with white hair and striking eyes. It’s fair to say that everyone was in awe of her. 

“If I had any choice I wouldn’t believe you. Unfortunately my roommate is in bad shape. They used her as a battery while she was unconscious and she’s very weak.” Allura said with a british accent. ‘A battery? How would they use Pidge as a battery?’ Hunk thought to himself. Lotor quickly typed a code in the keypad and the cell door opened. Hunk winced a little at the strong smell of blood. This was when Pidge seemed to stir. She opened her eyes weakly and looked around before settling on Tall-Pidge. 

“M-matt?” she forced herself to sit up when Matt leapt out of Shiro's firm grasp and ran through the cells door.   
“Katie!” He ran to her and stopped before he got the chance to hug her due to the echoing of a deep unknown voice. 

“You should have left when you had the chance.”


	6. Matt- HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON'T

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is here to remind us that the Holts are badass and that I love them. Anyway we meet Zarkon too so that is pretty chill.

I never really feel a thing, I'm just kinda too frozen  
you were the only one, that even kinda came close  
I just pinch myself, no longer comatose  
I woke up no luck 

Another day goes by, so hold me tight  
hold me tight, or don't 

I got too high again, realized I can't not be with you  
or be just your friend, I love you to death  
but I just can't, I just can't pretend  
we weren't lovers first  
confidants but never friends, were we ever friends?

Matt wished that he could say that it wasn’t his choice to stop himself from hugging his sister. But he wasn’t being mind controlled, he wasn’t being kept away from his sister, he was just afraid of what would happen. He and his sister were strongly tied to each other especially in the case of powers. Together they were undeniably destructive and unrestrainedly powerful. And Matt was afraid of them. Or rather afraid of hurting innocent people. Katie seemed to understand why he stopped and he felt a little better. But looking at her small injured form wrenched at his heart but he couldn’t help her. In emotional times like these, they could accidentally make one heck of a storm just by coming in physical contact with each other. 

“You guys shouldn't have come back for me…” Katie muttered to her brother. 

“We weren't going to leave you here… I don't want them to do to you what they did to me.” He said gently with a sob stuck in his throat. They had already hurt her so much… you know, judging by the bleeding and lack of electrical interference around them. 

“Get away from my battery.” 

Matt winced at the deep voice that he definitely recognized. It was the voice of Zarkon, The emperor of the illegal empire of assholes. They had beaten and forced Matt to fight in their arenas and power their building but now they had a more direct source of power. And she was almost passed out on the wall with blood pouring down her face and nearly no one to protect her but her brother. The girl who could never run out of power. The perfect battery. Matt turned to the large menacing figure that had spoken and he sneered. 

“You're going to have to go through me to get to her.” A spiral of freezing wind began to build up in the chamber. 

“No… Matt…” Katie muttered and tried to move her body to stop him but she was too weak. If he could get her close enough to any form of electronic, she could drain it and use its power to speed up her healing or at least give her enough energy to help him fight Zarkon. But he couldn't come in contact with her… he was afraid that they wouldn't be able to control the consequence. Zarkon seemed to have control of Lotor and all of Katies friends. They all had glowing red eyes and seemed horrifyingly still. Only him, Katie and the shapeshifter lady seemed to be immune to Zarkons control. 

“Katie I can't just leave you here…” Matt turned back to Katie for a quick moment. Zarkon seemed okay with waiting for them to finish. The large man knew that he could beat Matt, he even had control of a few more supers than normal and he's in no hurry. No one had been able to go against him with his mind control. Rarely anyone could resist his power. 

“There's still a way… Matt… fucking hold me.” Katie ordered. Matt knew that if he touched her she would be able to gain most of her strength back but he didn't know how much they could control their power together. They could collapse the building. They had caused enough damage when they were in contact with each other. But Matt didn't have another plan. And he honestly was dying to hug his sister after so long. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and she embraced him for a single quiet moment before all hell broke loose. The whole room shook. Matt noticed how feverish his sister felt. Either that or he was just freezing. He tended to be naturally physically cold. Matt could practically sense his and his sisters eyes glowing pale blue as their powers intertwined. The Lion woman looked a little stunned and actually scared. She had pressed herself as far away as she could in the transparent cell and was closing her eyes from the brightness. 

Zarkon seemed less impressed with the two siblings. Matt visibly saw his sisters wounds start to close and flashes of light under her skin like there was a thunderstorm only being restrained by her epidermis. Even within the building they could hear the violent winds and loud crashes of lightning from outside. Matt helped his sister to a standing position and while still holding each other tightly , they both looked at Zarkon and immediately their thoughts synchronized and they only thought one thought. 

I have to save them 

They both held out a free hand and pointed them at Zarkon. He couldn't react faster than the lightning that erupted from both of their fingers. The force of the lightning and the strong winds sent the large man tumbling back. Matt knew that the only reason they were keeping control was because they both had been so weakened before. But any moment things could go wrong. Any moment they could kill Katies friends. This caused Matt to drop Katie and the lights from their eyes faded. At least she had healed enough and gained enough strength to keep herself standing. Matt noticed that the blast had broken Zarkons connection to Katie's friends and they all looked a little confused but none of them looked hurt. The other girl looked stunned and scared but she ran to Katie as much as she could in the small space. 

“Oh my god that was incredible… are you guys okay?” The white haired woman sounded like she was trying to include the both of them but seemed fixated on his sister. Which was fine because he loved his sister more than anything and she was a genius that deserved all of the love in the world. 

“Ladies… we have to get out of here before that douchebag gets back up…” Matt got out of the cell and ran to the group of superpowered young adults. The woman helped Katie limp out of the cell and Matt almost wanted to raise an eyebrow at his sister but it wasn't the time for shipping. But in all honesty, he shipped it. He helped the rest of the confused group away from Zarkon before he could wake up. Unfortunately that didn't go as planned as he heard a deep grumble from behind them. 

“I admit that was impressive but you're all out of tricks I'm afraid.”


	7. Lotor- Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you want to see the full series without having to wait, everything's already uploaded to my account on the Voltron Amino where i have the same name and avatar. Come find me!

some princes don't become kings   
even at the best of times I'm out of my mind   
you only get what you grieve   
are you smelling that shit?  
are you smelling that shit?   
eau de résistance

the only thing that's ever stopping me is me   
I testify if I die in my sleep   
then know that my life was just a killer dream   
seems like the whole damn world went and lost its mind and all my childhood heroes have fallen off or died   
fake tears, we are living fake tears   
but the alcohol never lies, never lies

 

***

Lotor hated being brainwashed. He had only just recently been freed from his father's spell but there he was, useless due to his father's power over him once again. He had tried to resist when he was taken control over the second time. But unfortunately he wasn’t able to. Once his father was down from a mysterious blast, his control over them broke andLotor had control over his body again. He didn’t waste any time to sprint to his fallen father and kick him in the head. What… If he could continuously break his psychotic fathers concentration for a long period of time, He could fairly fight the man and prevent him from causing any more harm. 

Matt was practically almost carrying what Lotor assumed to be his little sibling as they looked exactly the same. The other woman that Zarkon couldn’t control seemed to be very concerned about the small version of Matt. Lotor had some hazy memory of fighting the small androgynous teenager but he decided to apologize later. 

“We won’t be able to defeat him if he can get in control of us…” He found himself saying to his new comrades. Everyone seemed more dazed then he was except for the woman who was immune.

“We have to kill him don’t we…” Lotor we surprised by the women's strong british accent. 

“I’m afraid that would be the best course of action.” He sighed and raised his arms. He hasn’t been able to use his power independently for years but he didn’t have much of a choice. He slowly curved his slender fingers and bits of the wall started to crumble revealing large beams of iron. “I can distract him if you want to sneak up on him?” he suggested to the woman, vaguely he remembered that she could shapeshift. She looked at him and shrugged. 

“We don’t exactly have time to think of a better plan so that sounds pretty good to me.” The woman replied nervously before transforming into a purely white lioness. Lotor almost panicked when Zarkon started to get up with a roar and he instinctively waved his arm, causing a beam of rusted metal to launch at one of the most powerful people on the planet. It hit the large mans head with a sickening twack and Lotor thought he could actually win this fight. But all he had to do was get up and they were ruined. Unless the three people who were immune to his mind control could beat him but two of them looked exhausted and about as good as Lotor felt. It wasn’t that he doubted the lion woman, but Zarkon was incredibly powerful even without mind control. Lotor swung the iron beam at Zarkon and his heart sunk when his father caught it in his hand. 

“This will not end as you hope Lotor. I will execute you and all of new friends.”

The deep rumbling of his father's voice made him shiver. Lotor quickly reacted by taking the other iron beam and throwing it at Zarkon while the white lion got ready to pounce at the most powerful man in the world.

Lotor twisted his hand so that the beam of metal bent to his will around the throat of the monster who had controlled him for years without break. 

“I refuse to let you hurt anyone else!” Lotor growled while the lioness found the best point to strike and pouced at the evil man. This is where things started to go wrong.

Zarkons heavily muscled arm grabbed the large feline by the throat before she could strike and he ripped the piece of metal from his throat. 

“You are a joke Lotor.” The man broke the bar of solid steel in one hand and violently through the white lioness against a wall where she immediately turned back into Allura with blood dripping down her mouth from the impact. “You will always be a disappointment. You are too weak to defeat me and all of your new friends will die because of your stupidity.” The man spat. “It’s a good thing you will be the one killing them, I can’t be bothered.” Lotors vision started to pulse painfully like a poisoned heartbeat and he knew that Zarkon was trying to control him. 

“NO!” he used all of his energy to keep his own mind. He was sick of being a puppet to do his father’s dirty work. He had tried to refuse being controlled before but something was different this time. Maybe it was because this time, people's lives depended on him? They had been rather kind to him after he had tried to murder them. Maybe he had slowly built up an immunity to his father’s power but whatever the case, the pain in his head stopped and his father looked a little confused. 

“I knew it would happen eventually but no matter, you aren’t my only puppet.” he grumbled and the hair stood up on Lotors neck as he looked behind him at the rest of the team. Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Keith all had glowing yellow eyes leaving the only people immune to Zarkons powers to defend themselves from their friends. Allura had gotten up and joined Lotor, Matt and Pidge who were the ones unaffected by the mind control. Pidge looked a little worse for wear and was entirely leaning on the wall for support as she couldn’t touch her brother without causing all kinds of destruction. Although now they might need a little destruction. 

“Kill them.” Zarkon commanded as the four possessed heroes turned to their past comrades. 

“Oh shit-” Lotor heard Matt mutter as he devised a plan. They didn’t have a choice in fighting their friends, but if lotor could find a way to do that without killing them… “Uh electric siblings? I don’t think that there’s a way to do this without you guys at full strength so uh, if you could get all scary and glowy I think we would all be appreciative…” The siblings looked less than thrilled but Matt reluctantly helped his sister up, resulting in the distant sound of thunder from outside of the building and both of the Holts acquiring glowing pale blue iris’.

“We won’t be able to sustain this for long without going out of control. So I hope someone has a plan.” Matt said, his voice was more booming but sounded gentle even though it echoed loudly around the room. 

“I’ll take Shiro, If I can get a hold of his arm I can disable him. We’ll need someone fast for Lance so I would suggest Matt for him. Lightning is pretty fast. And you’re teleconnetic right? So I think you would be able to take on Hunk, although I warn you, even though he’s not a fighter, he is incredibly intelligent and strong so I would aim on using is strengths against him. Allura? Can you take on Keith? I think you can handle a Pyromaniac.” Pidge said frighteningly calmly. Like her brother, her voice was soft but easily filled the whole room and seemed deeper than before. 

“Sounds good to me as I don’t think we have time for another plan…” Allura muttered as she looked at the group of glowing eyed supers close in on them dramatically. Lotor could always count on Zarkon to be dramatic before a fight. 

“Let’s get this over with…” Lotor sighed and raised his arms, ready to use anything in the area as a weapon. He couldn’t rip more support from the walls as he didn’t want the building to collapse. He could probably use hunks own weapons against him? 

“Remember, we can’t kill them. They are my friends…” Pidge said before taking out a small knife that hummed and sparked with her natural electricity. 

“God, I’m sick of waiting…” Matt sighed before sending a bolt of lighting straight at Lance.


	8. Allura- The Last of the Real Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Give me feedback you cowards

I was just a lonely child of the universe   
and then I found you  
you are the sun and I am just the planets  
spinning around you   
you were too good to be true, gold plated   
but what's inside you   
I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you but not as much as I do 

'cause you're the last of a dying breed  
write our names in the wet concrete   
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me   
I'm here in search of your glory  
There's been a million before me  
That ultra kind of love you never walk away from   
You're just the last of the real ones 

I'm here at the beginning of the end   
the end of infinity with you   
I'm done with having dreams, the thing that I believe, you drain the fear from me 

'Cause you're the last of a dying breed

Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as people fought. Allura was vaguely aware of Matt and Pidge standing back to back to keep contact and they moved as one even though they were attacking two separate people. Allura noticed their odd fighting style which included them constantly touching in some way. Whether it was with their hands or legs or back, they were constantly connected but they didn't seem hindered in any way. They helped each other dodge and switched targets every once in a while. She decided that she didn't want to get on their bad side. 

Allura shifted her focus to Lotor who seemed capable enough. Even without a weapon and against the physically stronger man, he seemed to be holding his own pretty well. 

Now Allura had to focus on her own fight. Keith was fast and strong and a pretty good match for Allura. She fluidly shifted to be bigger or depending on what would be the most beneficial. She countered his blade with her arms after shifting them to have thick natural armor. On her side it was mostly defensive as Keith was completely focused on offense. She tried to identify is fighting style but he didn't have much of a pattern. More like a combination of every style she had encountered and more. She ended up just using her instincts and mostly dodging his attacks. But this didn't last forever. Eventually she found herself outmatched and Keith's sword was so close to her throat that even if she swallows she would get cut. She looked around her and noticed that she wasn't the only one. Lotor was pitifully crumpled on the floor with the looming figure of Hunk over him. Matt and Pidge had been separated and the latter was being held helpless against the wall by her throat by a Shiro with glowing yellow eyes. Both Matt and Pidge looked exhausted, they had been completely relying on each other to fight. Without the other, they were weak and honestly looked pathetic. Allura knew that she was the only one capable of helping them, at least at that moment. She thought for a moment to develop a plan while Zarkon thought of the best ways to kill them. 

“It's over. I will let those who call themselves your friends kill you and release them just before you die so that they can see what they have done.”

Zarkons voice echoed throughout the room even though he seemed to have disappeared during the fight. 

Allura knew that she didn't have many choices but she had to do something. A blade to her throat couldn't stop her. She closed her eyes and tried not to focus on Pidge attempting to get a breath and desperately pulling at Shiro’s flesh hand trying to free herself or Matt panicking as he called out to her, or Lotor seemingly passed out and bleeding on the floor. Allura couldn't afford to panic. She changed her body as a silent refusal of surrender. Her skin turned thick and scaly, her body grew and the blade pressed into her new body for a moment before Keith was knocked back by her sheer mass. Her eyes were reptilian but still a brilliant blue. Muscular wings protruded from her elegant iridescent body and she bared her new razor sharp teeth at her enemies around her. Allura had become a beautifully terrifying dragon. She hit Keith with her tail hard and he crumpled to the floor, obviously passed out. Or dead but she hoped not. She roared at the other three possessed supers and they all seemed to hesitate. 

“I'm impressed. But I think you're out of your depth. Kill them.” 

The disembodied voice of Zarkon ordered and Allura watched in horror as Shiros hand tightened around Pidges neck and her skin changed color and she became more frantic and terrified. 

“No!” Matt yelled and was hit against the wall, close enough to see his sister dying up close. Allura had an idea and she assumed that Matt would know what the best course of action would be. He reached for his sister and she stopped struggling to reach back. They were just barely too far away and Allura took her chance. She pounced on Hunk who was keeping Lotor down and she rammed her tail and a wing into Matt, Lance, Pidge and Shiro who all tumbled into a pile. But guessing by a certain soft blue glow, Matt and Pidge were in contact and an explosion of electricity came out of them, forcing Shiro and Lance far away from them. Pidge was gasping and recovering from almost being choked to death and she had a murderous gleam in her pulsing bright eyes. But Allura had her own problems for the moment. 

Hunk had let her be distracted enough to recover and his unsettling yellow eyes closed for a moment before he thrusted his hand into her head. Immediately she felt drained and depressed. There was no point in fighting anymore… but Hunks powers stopped having effect when she heard a scream from Pidge and she was caught off guard and horrified to see that Pidge was holding tightly to a specific point on her chest, frighteningly near her heart and the evil possessed version of Lance staring emotionlessly at the scene. With a gun out. Allura couldn't contain herself any longer. Not even Hunk could take control of her heightened emotions. 

She didn't exactly remember what happened after that but she was told that she had knocked Hunk out faster than anyone could've imagined and she had attacked Shiro and Lance with a war cry. 

Meanwhile, the bullet had been frighteningly close to Pidges heart but she was still powerful and connected to her brother so she simply used electromagnetism to rip the bullet out of her and heal herself a little before passing out in her brothers arms. If she hadn't been in contact with her brother she surely would've died. 

Allura had come at Lance and Shiro with such fury that they were too shocked to move out of the way. They both went down and Allura used her large dragon jaw to hit them on the head a few times to make them unconscious and out of Zarkons control. 

And then it was over. The only ones conscious were Allura and Matt. And everyone had lived… but something was missing. Zarkon was gone. He had disappeared during the fight. And there was no way to find him. 

Not yet


	9. Epilogue- Bishops Knife Trick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE END
> 
> or is it

I'm pedal to the metal make no mistake  
This is my pity party, pity party  
And I'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke  
Spiritual revolt from the waist down  
From the waist down  
I'm just a full tank away from freedom  
Spitfire

 

These are the last blues we're ever gonna have  
Let's see how deep we get  
The glow of the cities below lead us back  
To the places that we never should have left

the last

'Til the earth starts to crumble and the heavens roll away  
I'm struggling to exist with you and without you, yeah  
I'm just a full tank away from freedom

***

 

It had been weeks. Zarkon had gone missing but no one seemed too intent on finding him. At least not yet. It had taken a few days for Zarkons prisoners and the group of renegade heroes to recover. Everyone could agree that Pidge was the most physically and mentally scarred from the experience. She had long thin scars on the side of her scalp and a bullet wound that had healed quickly. No one had known what they had done to her to make her more reclusive than normal. He had said something about her being a battery. She could only vaguely remember the experience of having everything feel like it was being sucked out of her. And she had only been able to recall it a few days after it had happened. Now it was only in her nightmares. 

Otherwise everyone was fine and healing. Matt had slowly filled out to a healthy weight and Lotor had apologised for many actions that he didn’t end up committing. He had been under Zarkons control for so long that he seemed to be slightly uncomfortable in his own body. Of course he was welcomed by the group. They were all outcasts in their own right and none of them wanted to be alone. Allura had gotten closer to Pidge and they spent a lot of time talking about their own trauma. Allura had many scars from her years in Zarkons prison. As the only girls in the group they formed some form of comradery. At least that’s what they thought of it as at first. Allura comforted Pidge when her brother couldn’t which ended up being often as they couldn’t touch each other. Pidge was trying to work through that problem. The few things she had tried caused them to short out the electricity in the building and more than once cause lighting to strike so they tried to keep their distance from each other. It was hard but manageable. 

They all healed slowly and together. They quickly bonded more and became close friends. Laughter was often heard from the little shack. But the thought of Zarkon always lingered. He was still out there. But they were fine being alive and safe for a few days longer. Of course none of them could stay in Keiths filthy shack for long. They went on missions and spent a lot of their time being what they were meant to be. Heroes. It was one of these normal days that they realized how much they meant to each other. 

Pidge was on the top of a building, keeping watch over a large area of the city while everyone else was on the ground. She had equipped them with small communication devices and they talked like they always did. About questionable things while fighting crime. 

“So about superhero names…” Lance started and a few groans echoed through their communication devices. “Hold on! I totally thought of something!” 

“Fine Lance, what were you thinking.” Shiro said calmly. 

“I think we should all be named after natural disasters, and before you mock me, I can explain. Keith can be Wildfire, Pidge can be PowerStrike, I can be Cyclone, Matt could be Thunder or something like that, Lotor could be Tornado because those things can pick up houses out of the air and he likes to make things float a lot. Uh that leaves Allura, Hunk and Shiro correct?” 

“Yeah, and if I am completely honest with you… PowerStrike is a badass superhero name.” Pidge smiled even though no one else could see her. 

“Thank you Pidge! I’m glad we agree on something.” Lance sounded appreciative as most people argued with him on several occasions. 

“For once you actually had a good idea. Wildfire seems like the coolest name you’ve ever come up with…” Keith muttered.

“Ha! I knew it! I still have to think about more names but you guys like the idea right?”

“We’ll have to think about it but it seems like a slightly better idea.” Hunk interjected with a hearty laugh.

“I was also thinking about the duo of the storm siblings when you two combine and become like Thor when he freaks out.”

“You know we can’t do that even when we’re fighting. We just got lucky with Zarkon…” Everyone could practically hear Pidge rolled her eyes. 

“Well someday you guys will be able to do it and you guys should have a cool name.” Lance retorted. 

“Maybe when we’re on a solo mission huh Katie?” Matt entered the conversation as it was hard to have an equal conversation between eight people. 

“I guess…” Pidge muttered. “Eyes up! They’re entering the building!” she said quickly as she spotted multiple familiar faces entering the building they had previously surrounded. She had identified the criminals beforehand and she knew that they were part of the Galra secret organization of assholes. They were powerful but all of their powers had been given to them. That’s why the whole group was there. Also just in case something went wrong with the simple mission. “Alright, we can send in the close combat team in…” Pidge kept watch over the cameras while Shiro, Keith and Lotor calmly walked into the building. Lance was in a high place with a sniper rifle just in case and Hunk, Allura and Matt were on the ground for support.   
Things were quiet for a while. Probably too long. Pidge even thought that they had muted their communication devices. “You guys okay in there?” she asked after a minute of silence. 

“Yeah we’re done in here. Do you guys wanna go out to eat to celebrate?” Keith said panting. 

“Maybe we can talk about superhero names while we eat burgers…” Lance laughed. 

“Sounds good. Everyone get into your secret identity shit and we can meet at McDonalds in ten minutes.” Lotor said with his strange accent and everyone agreed to the idea. 

 

***

 

“Matt you can’t live off of ten orders of fries…” 

“Fucking watch me Pidge.” The siblings bickered while Shiro, the designated order-er, spewed the memorized list of everyone's orders to the poor cashier. Their only source of income was Pidge stealing money and people paying them like bounty hunters. No one in the group had a great moral compass so it didn’t really make any of them feel that bad. Still they had enough money to pay for the shack that was big enough for all of them and Pidge combined with Matt gave them no need to pay for electricity but that left them with just enough money for food. 

“No Keith, two happy meals won’t cure your depression-” 

“You don’t know that…”

“You tried that last time…”

“Holy shit Hunk what are you doing-”

“Guys its a service dog! I just want to gaze at him forever-”

“Hunk you can’t just pet a service dog.”

“I just want to constantly stare at him until he loves me.”

“What the hell… why are you mixing root beer and lemonade?”

“Because Shiro refused to get me coffee.”

“That’s because coffee and french fries are disgusting Matt!”

“Okay everyone lets just sit down…” Shiro ordered in a very fatherly manner that had previously earned him the reputation of their ‘Team Dad.’ although he really wasn’t that much older than them.   
They all ended up sitting down in a large table in sight of the service dog to Hunks request and they all laughed when Lance said something stupid. This was one of those times where they felt safe and they were happy. No one was thinking about Zarkon or afraid of being arrested. It was definitely nice. 

“So if you guys are still thinking about individual names, we should at least make up a name for all of us as a team.” Lance said. 

“I don’t know… we can’t be the Avengers. Or the Guardians of the Galaxy. What about the Defenders? Or we could mix them and be the Defenders of the Universe…” Pidge laughed,

“Actually I kinda like that.” 

“Okay, fuck it, we’re the Defenders of the Universe now. Cool.” this was when their food came and they were all silent due to eating things that could give them all diabetes. 

And all was pretty good. 

For now.


End file.
